Clear negligence and recklessness from the other party

Charlie1234

New Member
Jurisdiction
Texas
Good afternoon, thanks for reading my post.

My husband was driving in a 2 lane road and was hit by a car driving at a high rate of speed in his lane, to avoid a head on collision my husband swerved the truck and was hit on the passenger back side. The other car ended up in a ditch, the driver got out of his car and ran, he was later found in the area. He admitted to the police officers that he had drank 2 beers but did not blow over the legal limit, so he was not charged with DWI, he was charged with hit and run. My husband did press charges.
There were several witnesses at the scene who spoke to police and we got the information from one of the witnesses. We don't have the police report yet but last time we followed up we were told all officers who responded were in agreement that the the other guy was at fault.

Husband truck is totaled.

I took him to the ER that night and he was only diagnosed with whiplash. He had a bruised and swollen finger but it was not broken. The bill for that ER visit was $20k.

A week later, he continued to have neck and back pain but started to complain of pain to his hands and weakness in grip. He was adviced to come back to ER for MRI for a concern of a neck injury due to his hand weakness. The MRI was normal. We have not received the bill for that visit yet.

We're projecting follow up PCP appointments, physical therapy, possible psychiatry. He has anxiety when he drives now, will avoid driving near the accident (which is hard to do because it's right outside our neighborhood). Also has been thinking about switching to a different career because he is currently a truck driver and now he hates his job. (Has been driving for 10 years in the army and as a civilian). He cried for a week straight after the accident and would have like small panic attacks.

The things I'm concerned about is my husband tested positive for marijuana at the hospital, he had not smoked for 3 days but it was in his system. I don't know how this would impact anything. And also, my husband has degenerative disk disease on his back and neck (we just found out from his CT scans) he does have chronic back pain but had never had neck pain till now.

My questions are, if we make a claim with the insurance company by submitting that $20k bill plus the next bill we have coming in and they give us a check for a reasonable amount and we don't have to go to court for a settlement, are we still subject to subrogation from the health insurance company?

Considering the situation, is it best to hire a lawyer?

I want my husband to get maximum compensation for this, we're not usually the kind to do this at all, weve never been in this situation, but this guy almost killed my husband for acting stupid! This was not an accident, this was intentional, who drives in the oncoming traffic lane at 90mph on a busy Friday night and expect not to hit someone!
 
Considering the situation, is it best to hire a lawyer?

If your husband is alleged to have suffered in excess of $20,000 (with more bills to follow), it would be best to consult licensed personal injury attorneys in your area and hire one to represent your husband.

The most important ting is that he begin his recovery process, not how much it'll cost or who ends up paying for it, if he wishes to restore his life to what it was before the collision.

No need to ask more specific questions when HE can do that with the attorneys with whom HE consults.

If he can't travel easily, most attorneys will visit him in the hospital or his home.
 
My husband did press charges.

Since your husband is presumably not a county district attorney, that's not surprising.

all officers who responded were in agreement that the the other guy was at fault.

Cops don't make determinations of fault, so their opinions don't really matter.

The things I'm concerned about is my husband tested positive for marijuana at the hospital, he had not smoked for 3 days but it was in his system. I don't know how this would impact anything.

No way to predict that.

if we make a claim with the insurance company by submitting that $20k bill plus the next bill we have coming in and they give us a check for a reasonable amount and we don't have to go to court for a settlement, are we still subject to subrogation from the health insurance company?

When you refer to "the insurance company," I assume you're talking about the other driver's auto liability carrier. Correct? If so, yes, your husband's health insurance carrier will be subrogated to any recovery your husband might receive from the other driver or the other driver's auto liability insurer. By the way, do you know the limits of the other driver's liability coverage?

Considering the situation, is it best to hire a lawyer?

You haven't provided enough information to allow for an intelligent assessment of this. For starters, answer the question about the other driver's policy limits. Also, do you have reason to believe the other driver has sufficient income or assets to allow for any recovery beyond insurance coverage? You said that the ER bill was $20k (which is a ridiculous amount for a single ER visit), but you also said your husband has medical insurance. How much did your husband actually pay out of pocket for the ER visit? Do you anticipate further out-of-pocket payments for future treatment?
 
If your husband is alleged to have suffered in excess of $20,000 (with more bills to follow), it would be best to consult licensed personal injury attorneys in your area and hire one to represent your husband.

The most important ting is that he begin his recovery process, not how much it'll cost or who ends up paying for it, if he wishes to restore his life to what it was before the collision.

No need to ask more specific questions when HE can do that with the attorneys with whom HE consults.

If he can't travel easily, most attorneys will visit him in the hospital or his home.
Thank you for your response. He is actually now able to go to work and that's where he is at the moment. I was with him every second in the hospital and advocated for him every step of the way. He and I are a team, I help him when he needs me to and he does the same to me. Legal talk and paperwork and this kind of stuff is definitely not his strength and he finds this completely overwhelming. So this is how I help him and how I help both of us stay educated. If my husband were to talk to a lawyer on his own, he wouldn't even know what questions to ask and he has told me this himself. And neither of us want him to get taken advantage of.
 
If my husband were to talk to a lawyer on his own, he wouldn't even know what questions to ask

As a general matter, legal consultations involve the lawyer asking questions, the client answering those questions to the extent of his ability, and the lawyer explaining how things work. The client can, of course, ask whatever questions he might have, but the lawyer does far more asking than the client.
 
Since your husband is presumably not a county district attorney, that's not surprising.



Cops don't make determinations of fault, so their opinions don't really matter.



No way to predict that.



When you refer to "the insurance company," I assume you're talking about the other driver's auto liability carrier. Correct? If so, yes, your husband's health insurance carrier will be subrogated to any recovery your husband might receive from the other driver or the other driver's auto liability insurer. By the way, do you know the limits of the other driver's liability coverage?



You haven't provided enough information to allow for an intelligent assessment of this. For starters, answer the question about the other driver's policy limits. Also, do you have reason to believe the other driver has sufficient income or assets to allow for any recovery beyond insurance coverage? You said that the ER bill was $20k (which is a ridiculous amount for a single ER visit), but you also said your husband has medical insurance. How much did your husband actually pay out of pocket for the ER visit? Do you anticipate further out-of-pocket payments for future treatment?

We don't know his limits but in Texas the minimum is $30k and we have $30k for underinsured. We don't know much about the other guys assets.
We just got an itemized bill and that was the total on there (he had a full body CT scan which was the most expensive) his deductible was $100 x2 which is $200 total.
We do anticipate future out of pocket expenses when he follows up with pcp and also he has a physical therapy referral which he will pay for out of pocket as well.
 
As a general matter, legal consultations involve the lawyer asking questions, the client answering those questions to the extent of his ability, and the lawyer explaining how things work. The client can, of course, ask whatever questions he might have, but the lawyer does far more asking than the client.

Well the first lawyer we called just asked for my husbands statement about what happened and then just said "ok we'll take your case, I'll send you the contract, sign it and send it back to me". And we called another one and it was the same thing. He didn't give us a breakdown on anything, I was the one to ask what their percentage was. We had no clue about subrogation until a friend who went through it told me (she found out after settlement).
 
If my husband were to talk to a lawyer on his own, he wouldn't even know what questions to ask and he has told me this himself. And neither of us want him to get taken advantage of.


You could accompany your child-like husband when you escort the ailing subject to discuss his concerns with the lawyer.

I hope he can soon be as healthy as he was before this accident damaged his cognitive abilities.
 
You could accompany your child-like husband when you escort the ailing subject to discuss his concerns with the lawyer.

I hope he can soon be as healthy as he was before this accident damaged his cognitive abilities.

That was pretty rude and uncalled for. I thought this website was for people to ask legal questions. I'm not here to argue with you or anyone. And you're a moderator here? Seriously? Wow
 
That was pretty rude and uncalled for. I thought this website was for people to ask legal questions. I'm not here to argue with you or anyone. And you're a moderator here? Seriously? Wow

I hope your husband's health improves and he regains all of his mental faculties.
 
Well the first lawyer we called just asked for my husbands statement about what happened and then just said "ok we'll take your case, I'll send you the contract, sign it and send it back to me". And we called another one and it was the same thing. He didn't give us a breakdown on anything, I was the one to ask what their percentage was. We had no clue about subrogation until a friend who went through it told me (she found out after settlement).

Ok...the written retainer agreement would have stated the contingent fee, and you're obviously free to ask, "please explain subrogation and how it applies to this situation."

It appears, however, that you have relatively little out-of-pocket expenses. That's a good thing because it means you were prepared by having good medical coverage. However, something else to ask a lawyer would be whether your husband would be going through the effort of litigation primarily for the benefit of your husband's insurance.
 
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